Controllers, who have an essential function in terms of traffic safety, are demanding better recognition of their status. According to Sud-Rail, the movement is followed at around 80 %, a “progressive recovery” is scheduled for Monday
mo12345lemonde with AFP
SNCF controllers are on strike until Sunday, December 4. About 60 % of TGVs and intercités, from Friday to Sunday, were canceled. On Saturday, about four TGVs and intercités out of ten circulate, and the passengers have been warned for several days cancellations, said the SNCF.
Controllers – officially called on -board heads – stop work throughout the weekend, with a “progressive takeover” envisaged on Monday, to claim better recognition of their status. “Management has not really seen the anger that was among the controllers and there, this weekend, it takes the measure of it,” said the union delegate Sud-Rail, Fabien Villedieu, Saturday morning on RMC .
ℹ️ Social movement: The circulation of trains will be strongly disturbed from December 2 to 5 on TGV Inou… https://t.co/njmn6beic6
Beyond the remuneration issues, according to him, there is a question of “improving working conditions” and “consideration”, with controllers who “feel mistreated” and who are “at the front in the front in trains “. According to him, the strike is followed at around 80 %. The almost 10,000 SNCF chiefs, of which nearly 3,000 work on TGV and intercités, have an essential function in terms of traffic safety and travelers. Without them, trains cannot circulate.
“New meetings” next week
Friday evening, management said that “new meetings” were “scheduled for next week, as part of the dialogue for weeks with union organizations about the heads of board”. For their part, the South-Rail and CFDT unions spoke of a “reopening of negotiations”, announcing a “specific round table on Thursday December 8”, in a press release.
“This does not change the weekend strike,” said Federal Secretary of South Rail, Erik Meyer. The unions (Unsa Rail, South-Rail, CFDT railroad workers and FO railroads) all brought their support for the movement, with the exception of the CGT railroaders. “It is a strike that we have not seen arriving, neither we nor the unions,” admitted, Thursday, the CEO of the SNCF, Jean-Pierre Farandou, during a conference organized by the magazine Challenges.
The collective of controllers had been received twice by management – but without concrete advances – before putting his threat of strike. After this weekend of “temperature taking”, Fabien Villedieu in Sud-Rail hopes for concrete proposals during negotiations next week, saying “believe in social dialogue” especially in the approach of the holidays.
The unions, in support of the collective, filed a strike notice for Christmas and New Year weekends in order to put pressure on the SNCF which, according to the trade unionist, of “room for maneuver” for to make proposals. This mobilization also occurs before the start of compulsory annual negotiations, which must engage Wednesday at the level of the SNCF group. The CGT, South-Rail and CFDT called for a “unitary strike” that day.